Conductive wires and cables generally have inner conductive elements surrounded by one or more layers of insulation. There are many applications in which it is necessary to strip the insulation and/or shielding material from the end of a wire or cable in such a manner that the inner elements are exposed.
Wire and cable stripping tools known in the art range from hand-operated tools to motorized machinery. For example, some tools allow a user to use a power drill together with a cutting device to strip insulation from a cable, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,381,850 to Warner, or U.S. Pat. No. 6,668,458 to Schoenleber. However, such tools are generally configured to be used with a particular cable gauge, and different tools must be used for each differing cable size. U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,289 to Alexander discloses a block comprising differently sized bores for use with differently sized gauges. However, the bores in the cutting tool described in Alexander are disposed circumferentially around the face of a cylindrical element. This means that when a cable is inserted into a bore and the cylindrical element is rotated the bore itself will move around the perimeter of the cylindrical element, pulling the cable with it. This is an ineffective means of stripping insulation which may cause the cable to whip around and may even damage the inner conductive elements of the cable.
Some well-known cable stripping tools include one or more cutting heads with bores for receiving a cable. The bore size and positioning of the cutting element may be different in the different cutting heads such that each differently sized head can be used with a different gauge of cable. Some cable strippers known in the art have cylindrical or X-shaped bodies, with different cutting heads disposed on each terminal end of the cable stripper. Such tools allow a user to switch between cutting heads with ease to strip different sizes of cable, and prevent a user from having to bring multiple cable strippers. However, due to the selectable nature of the multi-headed cable strippers, they are typically operated by hand so that a user can easily pivot between cutting heads.
It is usually the case that a person can strip wire faster with a knife than with a hand operated multi-headed cable stripper. However, when the stripping operation is performed with a knife, the risk of injury greatly increases for the operator.
Accordingly, disclosed is a device that can be used to adapt hand-operated cable strippers for use with a power tool, while still allowing a user to select between a variety of cutting heads.